E-A-G-L-E-S

Eagles Lose Fourth Straight Against Giants

2005-11-20T17:14:00.000-05:00

This is getting pretty old talking about how bad the Eagles play every week. The Eagles lost 27-17 to the New York Giants in a game where they never seemed to have a legitimate chance to win.

Andy Reid named Mike McMahon the starting QB, a decision everyone was expecting. McMahon got off to a horrible start offering no passing threat to the Giant defense. This allowed the Giants to crowd the box and hold Lamar Gordon and Brian Westbrook to minimal gains. I can't blame the awful offensive start on McMahon at all because he hasn't seen significant playing time since he was in Detroit. Also the Eagles have been perfecting the art of coming out flat over the past few weeks while McMahon was watching on the sidelines. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball Eli Manning and the Giant's offense was not off to a great start either, so it was an uneventful game of field position for the first quarter.

Things started to pickup later in the game. There was a controversial pass interference play called against Eagles safety Michael Lewis which put the Giants in great position to score. The Giants kicked a field goal and made the first score of the game. The next score came as a result of a blocked Eagles punt far back in their zone. The Giants recovered the ball on the Eagles 1-yard line and it took them all four downs to get it into the end zone. There was an interesting play on the second down of the series. Giants RB Brandon Jacobs appeared to fumble the ball before entering the pile. Mark Simoneau ended up with the ball as the pile cleared but the referees did not see any of this so there was no call. This ended the scoring for the first half with the score 10-0 in the Giants favor.

The second half proved to be a much more exciting half with more scoring a better execution. Mike McMahon clearly started to feel more comfortable as time went on. He started hitting Reggie Brown in a few impressive completions. Both teams played pretty well but not as well as they should've in the second half. They basically played even in the third and fourth quarters with both offenses posting 17 points. The Eagles certainly did not play well enough to overcome the extra tens points they spotted the Giants in the first half.

So the Eagles lose another and it very much looks like they will not make the playoffs. Also in a side note CB Lito Sheppard broke his ankle and will be out indefinitely.

The Battle of the Backup QBs: Detmer vs. McMahon

2005-11-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

It is not official but it clearly seems that Donovan McNabb will not be playing this sunday against the Giants. This sparks discussion over who will take his place. Technically Koy Detmer is the second string and Mike McMahon is the third, but there are many people that think those titles should be reversed. Let's take a close look:

KOY DETMER

PROs

Very Intelligent QB
Knows the offense inside and out
Has been with the Eagles since 1997

CONs

Average arm strength
Below average mobility
Undersized

BOTTOM LINE: Koy is a very good backup QB but he may not possess enough skill to command an offense for several consecutive weeks considering that McNabb may be out for a while.

MIKE MCMAHON

PROs

Very good mobility
Strong Arm
Has previous experience as starting QB in Detroit

CONs

Still learning the offense
Underwent exploratory arthroscopic

BOTTOM LINE: McMahon is a young QB with still a lot of potential to continue to improve. He did get ousted from the Lions but that team had an endless number of problems. It would be interesting to see McMahon play for a good team.

Eagles Give One Away to the Cowboys

2005-11-15T16:57:00.000-05:00

It's still too early to talk about this game but I feel it is my responsibility to discuss what happened last night. My language may be a little strong because I'm still very angry over last night's game.

Last night was the first game that the Eagles did not have to worry about Terrell Owens at all. He did not play last week but talk of what would happen next to him still dominated the headlines. It seems that for now TO is suspended and will not play for the Eagles again. His case is being looked into by an arbitrator. Anyway, the game started off very well last night with the Eagles offense showing balance we haven't seen all year. By the end of the game, the Eagles ran the ball 36 times while passing only three more times. This balance helped the Eagles control the game for 56 minutes in which they led 20-7.

Although in the last four minutes a lot happened. The Eagle's defense, which had completely controlled the line of scrimmage all game gave up a 26-yard run to barber followed by a touchdown pass to Terry Glenn to make it 20-14. Even with the momentary lapse on the part of the Eagles they were still in the driver's seat with the ball and a six point lead. Apparently they weren't. The Eagles needed to get a first down to continue their drive but a bad pass by McNabb and a good read by Roy Williams changed everything. Williams returned the interception for a touchdown to give the Cowboys the lead. Conveniently, McNabb also got injured right after he threw the interception so McMahon came in to give the Eagles one last shot at a field goal. He did a pretty good job with a nice pass to Reggie Brown which should have been caught. It would have given David Akers a chance at a chip shot. Instead, Aker's was left with about a 60 yarder which he came up at least 15 yards short. Game Over. There were a lot of angry fans leaving the Linc and a few players that insinuated that maybe McNabb should think about getting surgery on his sports hernia.

Andy Reid stated in his press conference today to not bet on Donovan for next week's game against the Giants. Personally, I would like to see McMahon get a shot.

Eagles Steal One From the Chargers

2005-10-25T10:08:00.000-04:00

The Philadelphia Eagles came out of the gates lacking enthusiasm (yet again). I should clarify that; the offense came out lacking enthusiasm. The defense started the game like never before, literally shutting down LaDanian Tomlinson and the Charger's rushing attack. LT was consistently stopped behind the line of scrimmage thanks to linebacker Jeremiah Trotter.

Sunday's game was especially important for LaDanian Tomlinson because he just needed to score one touchdown in against the Eagles to hold the all-time record for consecutive games with a touchdown. He was tied for the lead at 18 consecutive games with a touchdown. He would remain at 18 consecutive games with a touchdown because the Eagles defense would not allow it. LT finished Sunday's game with seven rushing yards on 17 carries. Thats right- only seven yards on the ground. Tomlinson averages 108 rushing yards a game to add a little perspective.

Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson really took advantage of the bye week to prepare for LT and te potent Chargers offense. Johnson admitted, on the official Eagles website, that even he was surprised at the performance of his defense but he certainly aware that they have to capability to stop any team's offense.

Although the defense put up a great performance, the offense was out of rhythm all day. McNabb was inaccurate and seemed to still be suffering from that abdominal injury. The defense can only control so much so by fourth quarter the Eagles found themsleves trailing 17-13 needing a touchdown to win. Andy Reid took a risky move and went for it on fourth and one in their zone and McNabb threw a horrible checkdown pass to Lamar Gordon which wasn't even close to being converted. That seemed to seal the Eagles fate after the defense stopped LT to only seven yards the Eagles would still lose the game?

In a twisted way the Eagles turning the ball over in their zoned helped them win the game. The Chargers went for a field goal to put the game on ice. On the field goal attempt Quintin Mikell found a seem and blocked the field goal! The ball took a perfect bounce to speedy DB Matt Ware who took it all the way back to pay dirt. It was a beautiful play. The Chargers had time to mount one more drive that was prematurely ended by Sheldon Brown who stripped the ball to essentially end the game.

There is no question on my mind that the Eagles stole this game from the Chragers but a win is a win and in a few weeks no one will remember how the Eagles won only that they won.

Eagles Prep for Chargers / McDougal out for the Season

2005-10-17T23:59:00.000-04:00

This week the Eagles had their much needed bye. A number of their star players are suffering from nagging injuries and hopefully are getting healthy enough to compete against the San Diego Chargers. I don’t think the city of Philadelphia could handle another performance like the one against Dallas. At least the Cowboys beat the Giants on Sunday. I couldn’t take all of the trash talk from the seemingly endless amount of Giant fans on campus. Since their loss to the Cowboys, I haven’t heard them say a word.

In other Eagle news, it was just reported today that Eagles defensive end Jerome McDougal suffered complications from his initial surgery that took place over the summer. McDougal was shot in a Miami neighborhood after attending a University of Miami football game over the summer. McDougal was initially expected to return to practice around midseason but he had to receive surgery again due to complications from the initial surgery. He will now sit out the rest of the season. He would’ve been a nice addition to the beat up Eagles line but now Eagles must go yet another season without McDougal. McDougal has been haunted by injuries ever since he was drafted in the first round by the Eagles a few years back. It is unfortunate because reports out of mini camp this summer were that he was the most improved player over the offseason.

Eagles hope to get back on track this Sunday against the much improved San Diego Chargers in Philadelphia. The true test will be if the Eagles defense can stop Ladanian Tomlinson, arguably the best running back in the NFL.

Eagles Post Poorest Performance Yet

2005-10-11T22:59:00.000-04:00

The Eagles game this past week was so bad I turned it off by the third quarter. The Eagles -yet again - started the game extremely flat. It's getting very old and, now, a bit concerning. The Eagles team is certainly missing a few components from past years. First off, an injured David Akers is a bigger concern than some realize. Todd France will not be there in the clutch when we need him; that is if we are in any important situation where he needs to hit a clutch field goal. Much more importantly, the Donovan McNabb situation is very worrisome. It doesn't make me feel good at all that he is playing with an injury that will not improve until he gets surgery. So it is a certainty that he will be at least as beat up as he is now for the rest of the season. I believe it is only a matter of time before he has to sit out and recouperate or maybe end his season for good.

I usually go through the game and explain what happened and who scored but I was so angry all Sunday afternoon that I had to go outside to calm down and I probably only watched a half hour of the actual game. In addition to that I purposely avoided Sportscenter the next day to not see any highlights of the game.

Next week's bye could not come at a better time. It gives any injured players tim eto recover and the Eagles a chance to pull themselves back together and start playing like they are the NFC champs.

Eagles Mount Comeback to Beat Chiefs

2005-10-02T23:19:00.000-04:00

The underdog Philadelphia Eagles staged an improbable comeback to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31. The Eagles came out flat once again letting running back Priest Holmes run all over them. The Eagles were plagued with a helpless defense and an inaccurate quarterback on offense. But the worst was the shotty special teams which was responsible for two fumbles and a Dante Hall kickoff return for a touchdown. To add to the destruction, newly signed placekicker Todd France started off his NFL career with a blocked field goal and a missed PAT. I know I said it for last week's game but this one did not look like the Eagle's would be able to pull it out.

The Eagles allowed themselves to get down by a score of 17-0 before they started to come alive. Sheldon Brown helped spark the comeback with an interception return for a touchdown in which he interrupted a Eddie Kennison slant route and ran 40 yards to give the Eagles a quick six points. Before the second quarter ended the Chiefs had a costly turnover where runningback Larry Johnson fumbled the ball after meeting Jevon Kearse in the backfield. With a score of 24-6 and the ball on midfield the Eagles were ready. They quickly put a drive together which ended with a 7-yard pass from McNabb to Owens and the Eagles narrowed the margin to 24-13 just before the half.

The Second Half was all Eagles. The Chiefs experienced a scoring drought that would last until the last few minutes of the game. McNabb began to find his way and his accuracy improved dramatically. The Eagles started the second half scoring with a successful Todd France field goal and the Eagles did not stop the scoring until they posted 37 on the scoreboad. McNabb found Owens the entire second half with little to no coverage. Owens ended the day with 11 catches and a touchdown which puts him at one shy of 100 touchdown receptions. The Chiefs scored once more on a Dante Hall touchdown but it was too little too late and in the end the Chiefs could not recover from an entire half of inactivity.

Eagles Win 23-20 on Akers' Lame Leg

2005-09-25T21:54:00.000-04:00

Eagles pulled out a close one against the Raiders this Sunday. It seemed like this week's game was just not meant to be for Eagles who came out of the gates very flat. Donovan McNabb, who had been very quiet about his condition this past week, showed viaual ailment in his groin in the very first quarter. David Akers re-injured his hamstring on the opening kickoff that was called back twice for offsides penalties. Akers had to leave the game leaving the Eagles with no choice but to use long snapper Mike Bartrum to finally complete the opening kickoff. With Akers seemingly out for the rest of the game, the Eagles were not starting off on the right foot. Although the Raiders were still winless most would agree that they are still much better than the 49ers. The Eagles could get away without a healthy Akers last week because the 49ers were so bad.

Following the kickoff the Raiders were blessed with amazing field position of which they immediately took advantage of scoring on their opening drive. The Raiders were playing on a short field the enitre game due to the Eagles using a long snapper to do their kickoffs. Lucky for the Eagles the Raiders went cold as well for the rest of the half. The Eagles finally responded to the Raiders opening touchdown but then missed the tying point after because middle linebacker slash placekicker Mark Simoneau kicked it low and off the back of his offensive lineman's helmet.

The middle of the game was filled with mediocrity on both sides. In the final quarter the Eagles came back alive and must have inspired the Raiders to start playing as well. The Raiders tied the game on a pass to Gabriel just out of the reach of safety Michael Lewis. Luckily, the Eagles had the ball with just over two minutes with all three timouts left which set them up for the surprising return of David Akers. He came on to kick it just inside the left upright then immediately collapsing to the ground with holder Koy Detmer falling on top of him. The game ended in dramatic fashion.

The Eagles did come out on top this week but not without getting beat up. Next week's game could prove to be very tough going into Kansas City with a beatup kicker and quarterback.

Fines and Injury Updates

2005-09-15T21:36:00.000-04:00

The latest news on Donovan McNabb’s condition does not sound good. Donovan did not practice Wednesday as expected. Instead backup quarterbacks Koy Detmer and Mike McMahon took equal amounts of snaps in case McNabb cannot play in Sunday’s home opener. In a press conference McNabb said that there is no way that he won’t play in Sunday’s game. It seems to me that the Eagles are trying to conceal the level of seriousness of his injury. That is what they have done in the past so I’d expect nothing different this time. Donovan was diagnosed with a chest contusion on Tuesday and although is seems that he will be able to play with it the injury is one that is easy to re-injure. Steve McNair has been plagued with a similar injury over his career. Quarterbacks are obviously very susceptible to taking hits on their torso.

In related news, the NFL reexamined the film from Monday night’s game to determine that Atlanta Falcon Kevin Lavalais’ hit on Donovan McNabb was, in fact, illegal. The NFL has not issued a fine at this time but it is rumored to be on its way. The fine is expected to be around $7,500.

The NFL has handed out fines to Kevin Mathis and Jeremiah Trotter for Monday night’s incident at midfield. They were fined $10,000 each but there weren’t any suspensions issued. For Kevin Mathis the fine is the least of his problems. Mathis tore 3 ligaments in practice this week and there is the possibility that the injury may end the 31 year-old’s career.

Disappointing 14-10 Loss in Opener for the Eagles

2005-09-14T00:29:00.000-04:00

The Eagles played an ugly game with little flare in their season opener in Atlanta Monday night. One might say there was foreshadowing that the evening would not go in the Eagles favor when linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was ejected in the pregame warm-ups. Trotter and Atlanta Falcon Kevin Mathis engaged in an altercation at midfield that led to their ejections. The incident clearly worked in the favor of the Falcons since Trotter was a much greater loss to the Eagles than Mathis was to the Falcons. Jeremiah Trotter receives much of the credit for stopping the run up the middle and it was clear that without his presence and leadership the Eagles had no answer for the Falcon's running attack.

As if the loss of Trotter was not enough, there now seems to be a possibility that Donovan McNabb could miss some time. McNabb took a hard hit to the chest on the Eagle's first possession of the game. The most recent reports have McNabb listed as day-to-day with a chest contusion. McNabb will likely sit out Wednesday's practice and the decision to practice later in the week will be determined on how well he recovers.

Finally, the wait is over

2005-09-12T13:33:00.000-04:00

Monday night the Eagles will begin their season in Atlanta against the Falcons. The Eagles will be looking forward to putting this past preseason behind them. Monday night’s game is the much anticipated rematch from last year’s NFC Championship. Major injuries the Eagles will be entering the game with are Todd Pinkston (WR), Correll Buckhalter (RB), and Jerome McDougal (DE). The Eagles do benefit from the talents of wide receiver Terrell Owens and running back Brian Westbrook but not without some baggage. Terrell Owens owned the media coverage in the off season by very publicly expressing displeasure with his current contract. After being sent home from training camp and publicly trashing his quarterback, Terrell Owens is expected to play this season but fans are still holding their breath. Brian Westbrook just remade headlines by announcing this week that he is cutting off all talk with the Eagles concerning contract negotiations. In the off season, Westbrook took the more dignified route of getting a new contract by coming to camp after only a short holdout and training with the team while renegotiating a new contract. Westbrook announced this week that he felt disrespected by the Eagles’ offers and that they were not even close to coming to terms. Although Westbrook is not happy he still has every intention to play out the season for the Eagles on the last year of his contract earning a meager $1.43 million. Westbrook is making a very dangerous choice to play on the last year of his contract with such low pay. Any injury sustained this year could make it very difficult to get another contract as a free agent next year.

Monday night we will see if the tumultuous off season will have any effect on the Eagles play…

The URL for this blog is yourphiladelphiaeagles.blogspot.com

2005-09-07T12:30:00.000-04:00

Eagles kick off Monday night against the Falcons

2005-09-07T12:20:00.000-04:00

I'm Steve Branosky and this blog will be devoted to the Philadelphia Eagles. I am going to attempt to give comprehensive cover of the Eagles game of the week. Most of the time I feel as if Ill be able to do that unless of course it was a terrible game that the Eagles should've won in which case I'll probably be bitter and complain the whole time.

I'm sure we will never have a shortage of things to talk about this season given the events that have happened off the field since the Super Bowl. As long as TO is on the team I'm sure there will be plenty of things to talk about in between games.

There's also the ongoing saga of whether the Eagles front office will sign some of their veteran players. The Eagles have developed a reputation for not resigning players past the age of 30. I should mention that they did break this trend last year when they decided to extend Brian Dawkins contract (a move that was vital to the health of the Eagles defense). Contract problems that may develop into problems this season are Brian Westbrook, David Akers, and Corey Simon. I don't mention Terrell Owens in that group because its clear that he is already a problem.

I will keep you updated on contract situations, locker room attitudes, and of course game coverage so check back every week for updates.